Adding new NASTRAN cards to HM

mvass

Hello.

In the NASTRAN interface user's guide, is mentioned that the templates located in ....\templates\feoutput\nastran\include\ folder, can be modified to include additional functions.

Does this mean that the user can include NASTRAN cards that are not included originally in HM? If yes, can anybody provide some more information on the subject?

Thanks in advance!

Altair Forum User

Hi MVASS

Yes, you can modify or create your own template files for HyperMesh that will include other cards or additional data fields. There is a lot of information on the syntax, functions, commands, etc in the help documentation under 'HyperMesh and Batch Mesher', 'Reference Guide', 'Custom Templates'. If you have a look at the existing templates, this will give you a good starting place to add new content. One thing to watch out for is that most of the templates have 2 sets of scripting information - one to generate the menu display and enter data into HM, and another that writes out the input files when yor export the deck.

mvass

Hi ETG!

Thank you for kindly replying to my question. Yes, I had a look in the help documentation which (once more) I didn't find it very friendly at least for what I was looking for. For obvious reasons (company-wise) the online documentation is not exactly 'user-friendly' for advanced topics, so we have to reply on the expertise of fellow users. Back to my question: I had a quick look on the online documentation, however I am not sure if I have understood the process of creating user-defined cards correctly. For example: Can someone 'visually' (Visual Basic style) create the menu (or menus) that will be used inside HM to generate the card? Or you have directly to write the script? Is Scriptview the right tool for the job?

Anyway, I do not wish to exploit your kind offer to help with a plethora of questions on the subject. If it is possible for you to write a simple guide with steps on how to perform this action it would be very helpful for a number of users. But as mentioned before, I'll have a more thorough look on the documentation and probably come back with a less 'vague' questions.

Altair Forum User

You have already 'BULK_UNSUPPORTED_CARD', 'EXEC_UNSUPPORTED_CARD' and 'CASE_UNSUPPORTED_CARD'.

Do you try them ?

mvass

@qnguyendai:

Thank you for your suggestion. Yes, I am aware of the 'BULK_UNSUPPORTED_CARD', 'EXEC_UNSUPPORTED_CARD' and 'CASE_UNSUPPORTED_CARD' options, however I am looking for a more comprehensive way of entering unsupported cards (especially for the bulk part of the export .bdf file) instead of asking the user to write in a text editor the card. It is highly possible -even for an advanced and experienced user- to make a mistake and get an error with his NASTRAN input file when he/she has to 'program' the card without having a nice-looking aid such as the card editor.

Back to my original question: I had a better look on the 'help' and so far I understood that if one would like to add say an isotropic material card named 'mycard' containing two attributes E, and ν. With the help of the examples found in HM template guide, in a text editor one will type the following lines:

*codename(MycardTemplate,100)

// Attributes

*defineattribute(Mycard,1,integer,none)

*defineattribute(E,2,real,none)

*defineattribute(NU,4,real,none)

//Materials Named Entity - mycard Card Image and Export Format

*materials(mycard)

//Card Image

*beginmenu()

*menustring('mycard ')

*menufield('ID',integer,id,8)

*menufield('E',real,$E,8)

*menufield('NU',real,$NU,8)

*endmenu()

//Export Format

*format()

*string('mycard ')

*field(integer,id,8)

*field(real,$E,8)

*field(real,$NU,8)

*end()

*output()

Question: By saving the above file inside the ...\\templates\feoutput\nastran\include\ as .tpl (right?) and loading HM with the NASTRAN profile, is one going to be able to use this card ('mycard') just like MAT1, or MAT8 etc cards are used? Is there anything else that has to be performed to do so? And what about properties cards (P....)? Any ideas for these?

Thank you in advance for the assistance.

Altair Forum User

Hi,

updating a current feoutput template can be a complex task and needs some experience which is beyond the scope of support provided here. You should also keep in mind that you may need to update also the binary feinput reader in order to reimport you decks again into HyperMesh. I strongly suggest to contact your local Altair or reseller office to discuss you current use case.

What I can offer here is some old training material (ftp-Link). The covered basic concepts of template design should be still valid today, although some things might have changed a little bit.

Regards,

mvass

Dear sir,

first let me thank you for your kind assistance. Second, I acknowledge that my question was not a trivial one, nor it was intended for the amateur user of HM's products. That is precisely why I didn't have any great expectations regarding the completeness of the answers to my query, let alone expect to find a full coverage of such a complex issue. I was expecting some very basic guidelines even in the form of a 'cookbook-style' presentation, i.e. you write a file like this, save it like that then use this to call it etc. I was expecting to find something similar inside HW's help, however once more I had issues with your company's help instructions. There are hundreds of HM users who would like to expand the capabilities of this great software -at least its pre-processor- and it is my belief that adding a tool that would allow them to add their customized cards would be a great asset for a pre-processor that sells itself as a 'global FE pre-processor'. Nobody expects a full coverage of NASTRAN's cards from a third party software, however it is my belief that by allowing users to expand it on their own and share their results with the community would largely add to the value of Hypermesh.

Instead of that the user is asked to pay more money for advanced training since the help system provided is considered vague for such issues at least for my standards. And yes, I have asked our local (and non-local!) office but unfortunately the company I am working for has decided to cut the support expenses for HM. Thus -naturally- no answer received.

Anyway, thank you very much for your support, I hope other people will find it useful. At this point I will consider this thread closed from my side.

Regards,

mvass